Timing mechanism



.3. A. fiCUTT TIMING MECHANISM Filed June 5, 1924. 3 Sheets-Sheet l J. A. SCOTT TIMING MECHANISM Filed June 5, 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 .3. A, scow TIMING MECHANISM Filed June 5, 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet 1-j llllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!IIIIIIIIIlIIIlllllllllllllllllllllllll llll lIlIlllllll Cal Patented Dec. 7, 1926.

MQUNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE.

J OHN A. SCOTT, OF DEDHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE SENTTN'EL MFG. 00., OF NEW HAVEN, CONN ECTIOUT, A CORPORATION.

TIMING MECHANISM.

' Application filed June 5,

Fig- 1 is a view in front, elevation of a timing-mechanism constructed in accordance with my invention, shown as set for its two-stage automatic operation and, therefore. with its operating-lever in its uppermost position.

Fig. 2 is a corresponding view, showing the parts in the positions due to them at the conclusion of the first phase of the two-stage automatic operation of the mechanism.

Fig. 3 is a corresponding flew, showing the parts in the positions due to them at the conclusion of the second or final phase of the two-stage operation of the mechanism. I

Fig. 4 is an edge view of the mechanism, with the parts in the positions in which thev are shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a broken sectional view on the line 5-5 of Fig.3 on double scale.

Fig. 6 is a detached perspective view of the first-stage tripping-cam with its sleeve.

.Fig. 7 is a similar view of the. second-stage tripping-cam.

Fig. 8 is a similar view setting-pointer.

Fig. 9 is a corresponding view of the seccud-stage setting-and-winding pointer with the outer end thereof broken away.

Fig. 10 is a detached perspective view of the oscillating operating-shaft with its flange. sleeve and spring- 4 Fig. 11 is a correspondingbut broken view of the operating-lever or manual.

Fig. 12 is a detached perspective view. showing the lever-detent. the buffer kick-off and the link uniting them.

Fig. 13 is a detached perspective view of the buffer and its detent.

My invention relates to an improved timing-mechanism primarily designed for the fuel control of cook-stoves. though available for use in a variety of situations where it is desired to effect two distinctautomatic of the first-stage operations. each capable of being preceded bv a variable predetermined interval of time. the obiect of my present invention being to produce a compact. convenient and reliable timing-mechanism of the character described. In the use of the mechanism in conjunction with a cook-stove, it may beset to automatically turn onthe gas, after the lapse of a variable predetermined interval of time and then automatically turn it off tween these plates I locate a small time movement of standard construction having front and rear movement-plates 18 and 19 v united-by pillars 20. main-spring 21, main wheel 22, ratchet-wheel 23, pawl 24,'main or winding-arbor 25, and a friction device mounted upon the-said arbor and comprising a washer 26. a helical spring 27 and an adjusting nut 28 mounted upon a threaded section 29 of the arbor. The friction mechanism just described is designed to permit the reverse or counter-clockwise rotation of the said arbor without disturbing the train of the time-movement and corresponds in general construction and function to the friction mechanism forming the subjectmatter of United States Patent No. 1,150,514, dated August 17. 1915. and granted on the application of Joseph W. Gibney.- The train of such time-movement may be of any approved construction and arrangement, the

'main-wheel 22 being the only element of it herein shown.

The forward portion of the arbor 25 is squared as at 30 and projects through the front case-plate 15'and through the center of a grad uated dial 31 secured to the front of the said plate and spaced apart there by studs 32. In front of the dial 31 andsweeping the same are a first-stage setting-pointer 33 and a second-stage setting-pointer 34, the latter being located in front of and bearing upon the former and serving also to wind the main-spring 21. For the latter-purpose, the said pointer 34 is formed with a square opening 35 (Fig. '9), adapting it to be applied directly to the extreme forward end of the squared portion 30 of the arbor, which is furnished.with a threaded stem 36 receiving a nut 37 which bears against the said pointer 34 and holds it in place (Fig. 5).

The first-stage setting-pointer 33, which is located directly behind the. pointer 34, is

will be hereinafter deinstalled between front and rear case-- stage tripping-cam thrust-collar 43 passing formed with an opening 38 (Fig. 8) having two flattened sides adapting it to be clearly shown 42, encircling the said sleeve 39, is interposed between the shoulder 41 and a 56 forward face of the said through the dial 31 and concentric therewith and bearing at its forward end against the rear face of the first-stage setting-pointer 33.

The rear face of the firsttage trippingcam 40 has friction bearing upon the forward face of the second-stage tripping-cam 44, which has a squared opening adapting it to be non-rotatably mounted upon the squared portion 30 of the main-arbor 25, the said first-stage and second-stage trip ping-cams 40 and 44 being, as shown, interposed between the case-plate 15 and an auxiliary mounting-plate 46 located in spaced relation to the front movementplate 18. The helical-spring 42 aforesaid developessuflicient friction between the said cams 40 and 44 to frictionally connect the first-stage setting-pointer 33 and the firsti 40 with the main arbor 25 through the medium of the second-stage setting-pointer 34 and the second-stage tripping-cam 44, which are non-rotatably mounted, and the said arbor 25, which is vfrictionally connected with the time-train through the friction device comprising the elements 26, 27 and-28, already described as of the Gibney type.

The respective first tripping-cams 40 and 44 and second-stage co-act directly with an antifriction roller 47 mounted in the its upper end lower end of a. lever-detent 48 hung upona stud 49 in the intermediate' plate 46. At thesaid detent 48 is formed with a hook 50 successively engaging with 'one or the other of two teeth 51 and 52 formed in a flange- 53 at the forward end of a sleeve 54 oh an oscillating operating-shaft 55, the opposite ends of which are journaled in the case-plates 15 and 16. 'Ofthe two teeth 51 and 52,- the former extends further from the axis of the shaft 55 than the latter,

so that when "the'hook 50 of the detent 48 is disengaged from the tooth 52, it will catch the higher tooth 51, aswill be hereinafter described.

The said shaft 55 projects through the front case-plate 15 for the non-rotatable application to it of an operating-lever or manual 56 having a hand-grip or knob 57 at its lower end and providing for cocking the mechanism after the time-mechanism has been manually set by means of the pointers the squaredhaving bearing in nee esssaid shaft 55 will be utilized for theconnection of my improved timing mechanism with the device, which it is used to automatically control, such, for instance, as a gasvalve. A spiral spring 58, fastened at one end to the shaft 55 and at its opposite end to the upper left-hand pillar 17 exerts a constant effort to turn the shaft 55 counter clockwise and is energized by the manual clockwise turning of the shaft by the lever When the said shaft 55 is turned clockwise, as described, one or the other of the teeth 51-52 will be engaged by the hook 50 of the .detent 48. When, on the other hand, the hook of the detent is disengaged from one or the other of'the said teeth by the action of either of the tripping-cams 40 or 44, the sleeve 54, shaft 55 and lever 56 are released to the power of the spring 58, which oscillates the sleeve and shaft and snaps the lever, as it were, from left to right, counter-clockwise. Now to check the lever when so snapped, either in its intermediate or in its lowermost position, as

the case may be, and neutralize the shock .upon the immediately related parts of the mechanism, I employ a bufler 59 consisting of a pieceof rubber or equivalent material housed in a bufier-case 60 hung by its upper end upon a stud 61 in the front case-plate 15. 1

For swinging the said buffer into its advanced position, in which it checks the operatinglever 56 as it snaps from its upper or gas off position into its middle or gas on position, I employ a bufler-detent 62 pivotally connected with the lower end of the buffer-case 60 and having its upper end formed with a hook 63, adapting it to be hooked over the forward end of the upper left-hand pillar 17, which is suitably fiattened at 64 for the purpose. The hook 63 is engaged .with the-pillar 17 as aforesaid, against the tension of a long, fiat spring 65, which tends to maintain them in engagethe detent 62 into posiment. For lifting hook 63 with the fiattion for engaging its tened section 64 of the pillar 17, the said pillar 17, so as to permit the bufler to retire into its lowermost position; under the pressure of the flat spring 65, I employ a buffer kick-0E '68, turning on a pivot 69 in the front case-plate 15 and having its lower end pivotally connected with one end of a link 70, the opposite end OfWlllCll is connected with the detent 48 near the lower end thereof. i

A spring 71, providing for maintaining manual 56 into its upper gas off as shown in oclock, and turned the hook of the detent 48 in engx gement with one or the other of the teet 51-52 of theflange 53, also tends to move the anti-friction roller 47 in the lower end of the detent 48 toward the first-stage and second-stage tripping-cams 40 and 44.

As already explained, my improved timing mechanism is constructed with particular reference to being set for the automatic performance in sequence of two operations with a variable time interval preceding each. The operation of the apparatus as used by a housewife for the control of a cook-stove will now be described and serve for the illustration of the operation of the mechanism,

whatever its application may be.

Let it be supposed that the housewife plans to leave her house at one oclock and wishes to have the gas automatically turned on in her cook-stove, in her absence, at two off, still in her absence, at five oclock. Under this schedule of time, four hours will elapse between the setting of the mechanism and the turning off of the gas. She therefore turns the second-stage setting-pointer 34 until it points to the fourhour mark on the dial 31. She then turns the first-stage setting-pointer 33 to the one- Under these gas will be automatically hour mark on the said dial. circumstances, the

turned on one hour after she has set the timing-mechanism and automatically turned off four hours after she has set it, the. separation of the two pointers on the dial giving the cooking period. Now-butmot until now-she swings the operating-lever or 3 position, Fig. 1, whereby the lower tooth 52 ofthe flange 53 is engaged by the hook 50 of t-hedetent 48,-which is snapped over the said tooth 52 by the action of the spring 71. As the lever 56 is swung into its upper gas off position, as described, the pin 67 in vthe flange 53 engag'eswith the'pin 66 in the buffer-detent 62 and lifts the. same so as to swing the buffer-case 60 on'the stud 61 into the position in which it is shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the buffer 59 thereby being brought into advanced position and the buffer-detent 62 hooded over the upper left- The above described turning of the second-stage pointer 34 having wound the main-spring 21, of the timemovement, the same is set running and gradually turns bot-h pointers 33 and 34 clockwise and their respective eams 40 and 44 with them. Now at the termination of an hour, the high point of the first-stage tripping-cam 40 will have acted upon the roller 47 sufficiently to have rocked the detent 48 enough to disengage its hook 50 from the said low tooth 52. The operatingshaft 55 is thus released to the action of its spring 58, by meansof which the sleeve 54, shaft 55 and lever 56 are turned counterclockwise, the snappy downward movement of the said lever being checked by the buffer 59, now in its advanced position, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. During this partial counter-clockwise rotation of the shaft 55, the gas is automatically turned on through the medium of mechanism connecting the rear end of the shaft with the gas-valve, whati ever may be the character of such coupling mechanism and whatever may be the character of the valve. The gas is now ignited by a pilot-light or other suitable means. This described counter-clockwise movement of the shaft 55 under the influence of the spring 58 is limited by the engagement of the high tooth 51 with the hook 50 of the detent 48- During the ensuing three-hour period, the time-movement continuing to turn the main-arbor 25 clockwise, brings the point of the second-stage tripping-cam 44 into engagement with the roller 47, with the eflect of rocking the detent 48, the move ment of which is communicated through the link 7 O to the buffer kick-off 68, which lifts the bufler-detent 62 out of engagement with the upper left-hand pillar 17 of the movement. The buffer-case 60 .is thus allowed to drop back into its retired position, as shown in Fig. 3. This release of the buffer is followed by the disengagement of the hook 50 of the detent 48 fromthe high tooth 51 of the sleeve 54 and by the snappy downward movement of the operating-lever 56,

which is checked by the buffer 59 now in its retired position. At the conclusion of this second-stage or final movement, the parts are in the positionsshown in Fig. 3.

It will thus be seen that one hour after the housewife set the timing-mechanism and supposedly left the kitchen, the gas was automatically turned on and four hours later automatically turned off. lnhcase the housewife has other plans and wishes to have the cooking operation start immediately upon setting the device, she has only to calculate the number of hours she wishes the cooking period to continue. Having done this, she turns the second-stage settingpointer 34 counter-clockwise until it registers with the calibration upon the dial representing the desired cooking period. She thenswings the operating lever 56 into its intermediate or gas on position, in which it is shown in Fig. 2, thus effecting the en gagement of the high tooth 51 of the hook 50 with the detent 48- At the expiration of the cooking period, the second-stage tripping-cam"-44 will effect the rocking of the detent 48, so as to disengage the book 50 from the tooth 51, at which time the spring 58 will effect the rotation of the shaft 55, so as to automatically shut off the gas, and bring Fig. 3.

The shaft 55 is to be viewed as the operathe parts into the positions shown in I the time-movement ing the said operator after a variable pre-- tor of my improved timing-mechanism in a broad view thereof, since the mechanism to be cont-rolled, whether for the use of air, gas, water, steam,relectric-current, and so on, will be connected with it so' as to be affected by its movement. Therefore, in using the comprehensive term operator in the claims, 1 would have it understood that I intend to cover thereby, so far as the said feature is concerned, means of any character suited to any particular installation and do not limit myself to the shaft 55.

I claim: T

1. In a timing mechanism, the combination with a time-movement, of a two-stage setting mechanism therefor comprising two concentric indicators frictionally coupled witha part of the time-movement which is energized by one of the said indicators, an operator, a manual for moving the operator in one direction, yielding means for reversely moving the operator, means for restraining the movement of the operator in either one of two positions, and means controlled by for automatically releasdetermined time-period and then automatically releasing it again after a second predetermined time-period.

2. In a timing mechanism, the combination with a time-movement, of an operator, a manual for moving the operator in one direction, yielding means for reversely moving the operator, a first-stage setting-member and a second-stage setting member, the setting of one of which energizes the timemovement, a first-stage tripping-member operated by the first-stage setting-member, a second-stage tripping-member operated by the second-stage setting-member, both of the said tripping-members being driven by the time-train, and connection between the said tripping-members and the operator,

leased after the lapse of a variable predetermined time-period and again automatically released after the expiration of a second time-period.

Ina timing mechanism, the combina- I tion with a time-movement, of an operator,

first-stage setting-member, a second-stage where" -b the said operator is automatically retripping-cam operated by the second-stage setting-member, and connection between the saidcams and the operator, whereby the said operator is automatically released after the lapse of a variable predetermined time-period and again automatically released after the expiration of a second time-period.

4. In a timing mechanism, the combination with a time-movement, of an operator, a manual for moving the operator in one direction, yielding means for reversely moving the operator, an operator restrainingmeans comprising two teeth, of which one is higher than the other, a detent co-acting with the said teeth, a first-stage settingmember, a second-stage setting-member, the

setting of one of which energizes the timetrain and both of which are driven thereby, a first-stage tripping-member connected with the first-stage setting-member, stage tripping-member operated by the second-stage setting-member, the said trippin members co-acting with the said detent to operate the same for automatically disengaging it from the said teeth, in sequence, whereby the said operator is automatically released after the lapse of a variable predetermined time-period and again automatically released after the expiration of a second time-period. 7

In a timing mechanism, the combination with a time-movement, of an operator, a manual for moving the operator in one and a second-.

direction, yielding means for reversely moving the operator, a first-stage setting-memher, a second-stage setting-member, a firststage tripping-member operated by the firststage setting-member, a second-stage tripping member operated by the second-stage setting-member, one of the said settingmembers energizing the time-movement and both of the tripping-members being operated thereby, connection between the said tripping-members and the operator, whereby the said operator is automatically released after the lapse of a variable predetermined time-period and again automatically released after the expiration of a second time-period, a butter co-acting with the said manual, means connectedwith the manual for advancing the butter and holding it in that position, and means operated by the secondstage tripping-member 'for releasing the butter prior to its automatic. release of the" manual and operator.

"In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification.

JOHN A. SCOTT. 

